The release of Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar in December 2025 has done more than just shatter box office records; it has ripped the scab off a festering wound in the Indo-Pak geopolitical narrative. While the film is being hailed as a cinematic powerhouse by millions, a specific circle of "intellectual" gatekeepers—the likes of Arfa Khanum Sherwani,…
For three decades, the Indian film industry was governed by a set of "unbreakable" rules. We were told that the audience had a short attention span, that certain faces were mandatory for success, and that "masala" was the only language the masses understood. Then came December 2025. Then came Dhurandhar. Aditya Dhar’s 3.5-hour geopolitical epic…
The shadowy figure known only as "Bade Sahab" is the central, unseen tormentor of the film Dhurandhar. He is the ultimate puppet master who connects the street-level drug trade of Karachi to the highest echelons of state-sponsored terror. The puzzle of his identity is brilliantly complicated by the film’s narrative structure, which suggests a constant,…
The hysterical backlash against Dhurandhar has nothing to do with "politics" or even "Pakistan-bashing." It's a full-blown cultural trauma for a particular generation of commentators—the ones personified by the classic 'Arfa Khanum' archetype. She's not critiquing a movie. She's mourning. Mourning the sudden, violent death of the comforting moral universe that Bollywood spent decades constructing,…
I went into this film armed with the relentless barrage of negative chatter: jingoism, toxic masculinity, excessive violence, propaganda, too long. Every review seemed determined to warn me off. But I watch every Hindi film that screens here in Portsmouth, UK, and this one was different. For the first time in years, the theater was…
The ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 was nothing short of a national epiphany. On November 2, 2025, in a finale that gripped the country like no other, the Indian women’s team etched their name in golden letters by winning their first-ever World Cup title, defeating a resilient South African side in a nail-biting contest…
Thamma (2025), the new Bollywood horror-comedy starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Rashmika Mandanna, sparkles with slick visuals and a high-energy vibe. Directed by Aditya Sarpotdar, it’s a wild mix of Betaals (vampire-like creatures), werewolf-like beasts, and forbidden love, set in the Maddock Horror Comedy Universe. But for anyone who’s watched The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, or The…
So I just binged Mandala Murders on Netflix, and I have to say, it’s not like the usual Indian web series or movies we’ve been getting lately. You know how so many shows these days feel like they’re trying to shove some big social or political message down your throat? Like, every other film is…
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